In His Dishonor
by Morgan P. Harder
Summary: The world is a husk. The devils lie broken, the angels impaled upon the spires of Heaven. From the ashes of the old, Ddraig is free once more. Free to roam a world of fire, of ash, and of death. What folly. Humans should have never meddled in affairs they did not understand, ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn. (Stand-alone backstory for the rest of my works.)


"Goodbye old friend. May you find what peace there is to be had in Hell." The devil smiled bitterly as his body fell to the floor. With what little energy he had left, he nodded.

"You as well, Ddraig." A flash of emerald light and crimson scales was the last thing that the devil saw and would ever see. Dead before his body hit the floor, the Mightiest of the Lords of House Gremory-surpassing even Lucifer himself-fell not with blades in his chest, but a traitor's poison in his veins and a betrayer's knife in his back. But his legacy would live on.

The bars of the prison which had held Ddraig bound collapsed. For the first time in millennia, Ddraig set foot in the world once more. His return was heralded by fire, burning hot enough to slag the pristine tile floor and melt the walls to ashes. As his true form rose from the ashes, the Crimson Welsh's gaze landed upon the one who had betrayed his former host.

"He trusted you. You, more than anyone were closest in his heart. Miss Gremory might have given him a second chance, but you were the one that gave him a goal. He loved Miss Gremory, but his love for her was tainted by lust. His love of you was pure-relatively speaking, considering who we're talking about. A love born out of genuine feelings." The great dragon stared at the beautiful woman in front of him. "So why then?"

The woman laughed. It was a tired laugh, filled with sadness and no small amount of madness. "It was too much, Ddraig. In the end, it was too much. So much blood. So very much."

Ddraig nodded, sighing as he did so. "It takes it's toll on one, I suppose." A great clawed hand reached out and encircled the woman who simply gazed back, eyes empty of life. "Farewell, Asia." The hand closed, crushing the woman in its scaled plates. The dragon opened his hand, letting what remained of the woman's corpse fall to the floor.

He turned away, spreading his wings and launching himself into the skies. Crashing through the ceiling, he shot upwards. Within seconds, Ddraig was flying above the clouds. He continued upwards. Soon enough, he broke free of the atmosphere, but he continued. Finally Ddraig came to a stop, a couple hundred kilometers above the earth. His sorrowful gaze swept across the planet.

It had once been a beautiful place. Now, its seas writhed about in a wrathful agony. Great swathes of land were cut asunder, scars in the planet's flesh. What was not carved to pieces burned with an otherworldly flame. There had once been vast forest of green. Now there was nothing.

Ddraig turned away. He gazed out into the endless expanse of space. And he roared. The very fabric of the world bent and ripped before him. Without a second thought, the Crimson Welsh stepped through. There was nothing left for him on that damned planet.

The first thing he saw was a great wall of scales, as red as his own. Then a great maw, large enough to swallow him whole half a dozen times over, was leveled at him.

"Ddraig. What brings you here?"

"Just passing through."

The Great Red stared at him. "Why should I let you?"

Ddraig's mouth twisted into a draconian smile. "It's not really a question of letting me pass. You're going to move. Or I will move you."

The Great Red reared back, towering above Ddraig. Ddraig was large, but compared to the Great Red, he was an ant to a lion. "You dare to come into my world, my home, and demand something of me? I should devour you where you stand, Crimson Welsh!"

"You can try." Flames erupted from Ddraig's mouth. Fire, hot enough to melt the flesh of Gods, flames that would not be quenched until the end of time immemorial. The Great Red considered him. And it stepped aside.

"Your flames will not even singe me, Ddraig. And yet, I respect you. I am not blind to the struggles you faced. You and that brat stood where countless others fell. No matter the cost, it was always the two of you. Devil and dragon, standing where not even the Host of Heaven would venture."

Ddraig nodded to the Great Red. He stepped forward, space rippling before him.

"I should warn you," The Great Red said. "Not all worlds are as friendly to your kind. I doubt you will always be able to call upon the might you once wielded."

Ddraig shrugged. "What care have I? Everything I cared for is gone, consumed in the crawling chaos. My only goal now is to carry on the legacy of my past host. It's the least I can do for my closest friend."

The Great Red looked at him. And he chuckled. "As you say. I dare say that quite a few people will be quite displeased with that. Mostly those of the more feminine persuasion."

Ddraig turned his head towards the Great Red and spoke. "Zoom. Zoom. Iyaaan." With that, he stepped through the ripple, disappearing from the world. The Great Red watched as the ripple closed. And he laughed and laughed and laughed.


End file.
